Irish's Carbajal earns return trip to state

Wednesday

In early September, Luis Carbajal's back was in so much pain that he couldn't even walk or sit upright, much less compete in cross country races.

In early September, Luis Carbajal's back was in so much pain that he couldn't even walk or sit upright, much less compete in cross country races.

Once a doctor determined that Carbajal's tailbone was out of place, the Dublin Scioto High School sophomore figured his season likely had ended. But after several sessions with a chiropractor, Carbajal has returned with a vengeance. Last Saturday at the Division I regional at Pickerington North, he finished second in 16 minutes, 10.15 seconds behind Hilliard Davidson's Yoshi Shimizu (16:05.1).

The top four teams and top 16 individuals from the boys and girls regionals qualified to the state meet Saturday at Scioto Downs.

"That wasn't my best time, but this was the first real race that I've run since I've come back," Carbajal said. "I wanted to win, but I'm just happy to be back running again after everything I went through. My doctor had told me that I might have to have surgery, so I'm grateful that I'm healthy and running again."

Coach Kevin Foley said Carbajal's accomplishment is even more impressive considering he missed three meets and almost a month of training in September.

"Luis couldn't walk or sit down to the point where he missed two days of school, so there were serious doubts about whether he would be able to return and do this," Foley said. "He's healthy again, but he missed the most crucial training of the season. Considering all of that I'd say he had a good race."

Despite being hampered by a strained left calf muscle, Carbajal finished 33rd (16:09.09) in the Division I state meet a year ago. He became the first Scioto runner to compete at state since Parker Daniel was 21st (16:01) in 2000.

Medina's Donny Roys won the state meet last year in 15:21.83, and Carbajal ran the third-fastest time of any freshman there behind Mason's Zach Wills (fourth, 15:32.96) and Cincinnati LaSalle's' Travis Hawes (12th, 15:51.4).

Carbajal is hoping to finish in the top 25 to earn all-state and perhaps become Scioto's highest state placer. Aaron Rowe finished a program-best 19th in 1998.

"My goal is to get top 10," Carbajal said. "I'm going to try to stay with the leaders, but if I get the chance to win it, I'm going to take off and give it everything I have."

"We ran a solid race, not great or terrible," coach Dave Stroh said. "We're definitely disappointed not to make it to state, but this was our highest finish at regional, so we've continued to make progress."

Nick Schneider finished 17th (16:32.91) just one spot away from qualifying to state. Celina's Andrew Goodwin (16:30.91) passed Schneider right before the finish line to secure the 16th and final state-qualifying spot.

"Nick didn't run terribly, but he just didn't have it," Stroh said. "He didn't have that extra gear at the end to hold off (Goodwin)."

•The Coffman boys finished seventh (187) to fall short of qualifying to state for an eighth-consecutive season.

The Shamrocks' No. 1 runner, Nate Lonsway, had an asthma attack and ended up finishing last (19:52.74) of 129 runners.

"We ran our absolute worst race of the season," coach Chad Biegler said. "If we ran as well as we did last week at district, we'd be going to state. Nate has had a sinus infection, and his attack hit him in warmups before the race even started. When Nate dropped back, our No. 2 and 3 runners tried to press too hard and do too much and they ended up not running well either. To run as badly as we did and still get seventh shows the kind of potential we had."

"We totally blew up," coach Matt Suttle said. "Our twins appeared to be locks to get out, at least individually, but they both got dizzy and couldn't breathe. I don't know if it was allergies or the cold weather, but we had to carry them out of the finish chute afterward. When our other girls started passing them, they kind of freaked out a little bit because they knew our chances of making state were over."

•The Coffman girls team finished 11th (293), snapping a streak of making it to state the previous 12 seasons.

At a glance

Below are the recent results and coming schedules for the Coffman, Jerome and Scioto boys and girls cross country teams:

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